Stylos is the blog of Jeff Riddle, a Reformed Baptist Pastor in North Garden, Virginia. The title "Stylos" is the Greek word for pillar. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul urges his readers to consider "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar (stylos) and ground of the truth."

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Eusebius, EH.6.6-8: Origen's Notorious "Rash Act"

Image: Manuscript representation of Origen, c. 1160.

This is an occasional series of readings from and brief notes
and commentary upon Eusebius of Caesarea’s The
Ecclesiastical History: Book 6, chapters 6-8. Listen here.

Chapter 7 makes reference to another notable
writer of the Severan period, a certain Judas, who wrote a discourse on the
book of Revelation. Eusebius notes that Judas anticipated the coming of the Antichrist,
in light of the persecutions the church was enduring.

Chapter 8 is more extensive. It provides an
account of a notable “rash act” undertaken by Origen, that sprang from “an
immature and youthful mind.” He took Christ’s comments that there are those who
make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom (Matt 19:12) “in too
literal and extreme a sense” and apparently emasculated himself.

He is said to have done this out of faith and self-control
and to avoid any hint of scandal in his instruction of women.

Origen had attempted to hide this act from others, but it became
known to his pupils.

Eusebius reports that Demetrius, the bishop of Alexandria, at
first approved of Origen’s zeal and sincerity. Later, however, when he did not
approve of Origen’s appointment as an elder by the bishops in Caesarea and
Jerusalem, Demetrius described it as a “monstrous” deed and a “grave scandal.”

Turning to transitions, Eusebius notes that Severus was
succeeded by his son Antoninus as emperor, and, in the Jerusalem church, Alexander
was made bishop alongside Narcissus, while Narcissus still lived.

Conclusion:

This section provides one of the most colorful and oft
repeated anecdotes about Origen: his youthful “rash act.” Modern historians
have raised questions about the anecdote’s historicity. Even Eusebius notes
that the story was only circulated in opposition to Origen’s appointment as a presbyter.
At the least, it is consistent with the presentation of Origen in Eusebius as a
rigorous and zealous ascetic.